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Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:27 am
by Vile hatred
In chronological order

I was around 7 when a guy of the estate bought a Smokey and the bandit trans am. He was immediately promoted to god status by the kids of the estate. Mass depression erupted when he stuffed it some time later

Around the age of 12 the local garage had a maestro van into which they dropped a montego/maestro turbo engine. It became the terror of the local boy racers. IIRC it ended it days in a ditch.

Around the age of 17 and with a fresh provisional licence in one hand and keys to a Honda 125 in the other I became aware of a cb750 Phil Read replica complete with big bore kit and yoshi cam (according to the owner) Hopelessly out of date even back then but ridden like a loon by the owner making a glorious noise

Around the age of 19 and the keys to a mk3 Capri in my hands noticed up Alfreton a rover v8 converted mk3 Capri. Made a glorious noise.

Same age the 'slippery when wet' Capri. Standard ml3 with the bon Jovi logo up the side, it's importance was if you were lucky you blag a lift in it up to Rock City and oggle the scantily clad ladies

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:44 am
by John F
Even when I was a kid I thought yank cars were a pile of attention-seeking gash, as did all my mates. We used to mock the 'urban cowboys" that owned them.

On one memorable occasion when I was about 15, a mate & I were walking into town when some monster truck thing drove up the road towards us. Without a thought, we both looked up & gave the driver a simultaneous "wanker" sign. The monster truck driver's ego clearly couldn't handle being mocked by children, he screeched to a halt, leapt down from the cab & chased us through several gardens before giving up & fucking off in his massive, useless dick replacement of a vehicle. What a bell end... we were still laughing at him years later.

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 10:29 am
by mercrocker
On the other hand.....

I used to love seeing Yanks around our village. There was a US Army shore establishment in the nearest town which generated a couple of "sightings" such as an Uncle Sam issue Econoline bus but I don't think the base was responsible for the higher-than-average Yank count around what was a relatively rural area.

A fella near the shops had a brown '59 flat-top Bel Air - and a BMW 600! - and right around the corner lived a 1960 Impala bubble top. The guy with the'60 had no driveway and this big black thing just sat in the narrow lane. I remember its tarnished parking feelers blowing in the breeze.... Somebody else had left a '55 Pontiac on their mother's front lawn and it just sat there and slowly sank. A similar front garden a few hundred yards up had a Chevy Biscayne leaning out of a half-dug garden pond like a poor man's Cadillac Ranch. Perhaps the best was the 1963 Riviera, same golden colour as the Corgi Toy, that turned up a few doors from my grandmother's house and I think belonged to a lodger there. I also remember a Pontiac Catalina with a very desirable (to me) translucent steering wheel.

Other memorable motors were a square-lamped Series 1 Quattroporte that visited a house next to the greengrocer's from time to time (they obviously had friends with taste as a Decapotable Traction used to park there sometimes as well) and oddballs like the Perkins-engined Mk10 Jag that a local Icelandic bodyshop owner smoked around - quite literally.

There was a Standard Ten bombing about that the long-haired owner had painted red one side and white the other. On the white half were red spots and on the red side he added white spots. It looked like a ladybird that a kid had drawn and from memory probably had no exhaust at all as it was fearsome loud! Predictably, it didn't last long but bits of it did as for months afterwards you could see a spotty door or bonnet on an otherwise sombre baby Standard as the car shed its parts at the local scrappy!

A couple of miles away was a large country estate, owned by the Rothschilds, who had their own large country estate on wheels - a Crayford Austin 3 Litre. This was an excellent car-spotting area and one memorable bike ride yielded not only a DB6 Shooting Brake but also a six-door 600 Pullman - on the same day!

Beaulieu was close by and in those days they hired out pretty much anything for weddings and it was not unusual to see the Auburn Speedster howling across the forest, shedding ribbons as it hooned back from such a booking. Presumably only one of the wedding party actually got to ride in it, though! More commodious accomodation was offered by the Renault Landaulette which often pottered sedately around the area - with a shorty Land Rover and tool box discreetly near by.

Other village rarities that I recall include an Austin A35 pickup (genuine Bobtail one), a Scorpion Sovereign (you might want to google that, it was basically a Bond Equipe type sports saloon on a Vitesse chassis) and very briefly the Sweeney Mk3 Cortina which I managed to blag a ride in. I also remember getting a lift in a Lamborghini Espada once because the fella pulled over for directions as I was walking home and I just happened to know the bloke he was looking for....

Most of the above was in the period between 1964-1970 (apart from the last two) during the time I was at primary school and fully conversant with every page of the Observer's Book of Automobiles......

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 10:37 am
by LynehamHerc
10 BMW, a CSL owned by a Leeds United player many years ago when they could play well.
It was often parked outside a pub my mates and I used to go to that served probably the best Tetleys in Leeds and therefore the universe.

A XJ4.2C owned by the finance director of the firm I worked for from 1978-1983. Apparently he wanted a XJS but was too big to fit in it. The MD had a green 450SLC, which was a classy car, apparently the cheapest car the company ran as it was sold at a profit, like his previous mercs. A bit different from today's mercs.

The last is a Lotus Elan +2S 130/5, which I really wanted to buy but couldn't get insured for so I bought my MGB instead.

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:46 am
by DodgeRover
I remember from when I was young a series of box arched creations that a guy in the row up from me used to create, Melvin I think his name was, don't know if they ever got finished and thinking back they were probably mainly filler.
A guy on the walk to school had a red Corvette which stood out a mile from the norm!
We had a fin tailed diesel Merc I loved it because it had fins, was different from everything else on the road even back then and had a bench seat and column change, the dog used to ride on the parcel shelf. Red plastic seats and white steering wheel with the horn on a polished chrome ring in the centre.

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:29 pm
by Junkman
I grew up in one of the most affluent suburbs of Munich, so people overwhelmingly drove current tat, which even back then underwhelmed me, despite there was a lot of stuff among it that would seriously entice me nowadays. But the memorable vee hickles for me at the time where (are?) the Tempo Hanseat still used by a local laundry service and the BMW 3200 Barockengel an old giffer down the street from us owned. In the middle of the '73 oil crisis he ripped out the single carby setup and replaced it with the dual one, something that made me understand for the rest of my life that most people are stupid cowards and have no idea how to live life.
Then there was a guy who owned a Rekord P1 daily and a Mercedes 170V, and another who had a 15/6 Traction. They were both considered weird and backward by the stupid cowards, but I liked their attitude.
There also was a rather pimpish guy who had an orange E-Type roadster which I found hideous and I usually saw it being towed. I kinda liked the guy, but not the car.
There were quite a few old lorries still in use, which I liked a lot. Glück gravel quarry still had a few Krupps and the Post still had bright yellow Magirus Rundhauber.

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:42 pm
by Nibblet
I remember a purple Hillman Avenger estate in Brighton in 1978.

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 10:49 pm
by Vile hatred
John F wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:44 am Even when I was a kid I thought yank cars were a pile of attention-seeking gash, as did all my mates. We used to mock the 'urban cowboys" that owned them.

On one memorable occasion when I was about 15, a mate & I were walking into town when some monster truck thing drove up the road towards us. Without a thought, we both looked up & gave the driver a simultaneous "wanker" sign. The monster truck driver's ego clearly couldn't handle being mocked by children, he screeched to a halt, leapt down from the cab & chased us through several gardens before giving up & fucking off in his massive, useless dick replacement of a vehicle. What a bell end... we were still laughing at him years later.
Giving shit then running off does seem to be a characteristic of yours

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:58 pm
by christine
Not a car . Early seventies , a black leather clad rider ,goggles and open face helmet , clinging onto a gloss black JPS colours Norton 750 cafe racer ,( maybe a Rickman )noisey as fuck :P ..bikini fairing ,twin headlights clip ons, flat out on the main road bend , overtaking everything into oncoming traffic ..Blam, blam , earthquake noise , doppler effect ...then fading to silence .. Stayed in my mind ever since :)
Another seventies thing was, we lived about 15 -20 miles as the crow flies, from Brands Hatch. On a GP day or Touring cars .... See it on Sunday Grandstand , go outside and hear it !

Re: Memorable cars you remember

Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:38 am
by John F
Vile hatred wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 10:49 pm
John F wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:44 am Even when I was a kid I thought yank cars were a pile of attention-seeking gash, as did all my mates. We used to mock the 'urban cowboys" that owned them.

On one memorable occasion when I was about 15, a mate & I were walking into town when some monster truck thing drove up the road towards us. Without a thought, we both looked up & gave the driver a simultaneous "wanker" sign. The monster truck driver's ego clearly couldn't handle being mocked by children, he screeched to a halt, leapt down from the cab & chased us through several gardens before giving up & fucking off in his massive, useless dick replacement of a vehicle. What a bell end... we were still laughing at him years later.
Giving shit then running off does seem to be a characteristic of yours
My my, you're a subversive little chappy, aren't you?

Come on then, fella. Get it off your chest.